Common Name:

General Information

Ficus virgata is an evergreen tree with a dense, wide-spreading crown; it can grow 10 - 30 metres tall. It often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree and can eventually send down aerial roots that, once they reach the ground, provide extra nutrients that help the plant grow more vigorously. These aerial roots can completely encircle the trunk of the host tree, constricting its growth - this, coupled with the more vigorous top growth, can lead to the fig outcompeting and killing the tree in which it is growing[, , , ]. As the tree grows larger it produces aerial roots from its canopy, when they reach the ground they thicken and become prop roots, supporting the canopy and feeding the tree, allowing it to spread wider[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - southern Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, to new Guinea, northern Australia and the southwestern Pacific.

Habitat

Rain forests, at low elevations[]. Well developed rain forest and gallery forest at elevations up to 400 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Pollinators	Wasps
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The plant commences fruiting as a small shrub-like tree[].
Fig trees have a unique form of fertilization, each species relying on a single, highly specialized species of wasp that is itself totaly dependant upon that fig species in order to breed. The trees produce three types of flower; male, a long-styled female and a short-styled female flower, often called the gall flower. All three types of flower are contained within the structure we usually think of as the fruit.
The female fig wasp enters a fig and lays its eggs on the short styled female flowers while pollinating the long styled female flowers. Wingless male fig wasps emerge first, inseminate the emerging females and then bore exit tunnels out of the fig for the winged females. Females emerge, collect pollen from the male flowers and fly off in search of figs whose female flowers are receptive. In order to support a population of its pollinator, individuals of a Ficus spp. Must flower asynchronously. A population must exceed a critical minimum size to ensure that at any time of the year at least some plants have overlap of emmission and reception of fig wasps. Without this temporal overlap the short-lived pollinator wasps will go locally extinct[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Young leaves, no older than 3 days, are eaten fresh as an appetizer and to lessen the pungency and bitterness of sauces and thus prevent stomach-ache[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings[].

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